Cliff Lee does it all in rout of Marlins

By
Dennis Deitch, Delaware County Daily Times

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

PHILADELPHIA — Cliff Lee’s teammates strode around the clubhouse Monday with a new T-shirt featuring his likeness designed by Carlos Ruiz. In it Lee’s hair is mussed, the expression on his face best described as “gotcha-clueless.”

“Chooch came up with that, I think,” Lee said. “You can ask him. I think that’s just a joke and they’re messing with me.”

They messed with him the way he has been messing with hitters of late — and pitchers, for that matter.

Not only did the veteran lefty strike out 14 over eight innings in Monday night’s 12-2 rout of the Marlins at Citizens Bank Park, he also doubled his career September hit total in one night.

Lee had a pair of RBI singles and a run-scoring triple — his first in 210 career plate appearances — to drive in one-third of the runs and exhaust the bat boy by making him sprint out to deliver his warmup jacket.

Chase Utley matched Lee’s four RBIs, hitting a three-run homer in the bottom of the third that got a six-run inning started against overwhelmed Miami starter Sam Dyson, who started the season in Double-A.

This, however, was Lee’s evening.

Lee’s 14 punchouts were the second-most of his career, his only better effort coming May 6, 2011, when he struck out 16 Braves in seven innings, but gave up three runs in a 5-0 loss.

This time he got to not only savor a win, but get involved at both ends of the deal.

“A heck of a game for Cliff Lee. It was basically his show,” manager Ryne Sandberg said. “Probably what he’s beaming the most about is his bat.”

He first struck with the bat in his second plate appearance of the huge third inning, as he put the finishing touches on Dyson with a two-run single to right field to score Cody Asche and Darin Ruf. A couple of batters earlier the Phillies showed they weren’t taking the game in cruise-control mode when Domonic Brown, in just his second start since returning from Achilles’ tendinitis, scored on Asche’s single by trucking over Marlins catcher Jeff Mathis.

A day earlier, Brown spoke out about his unhappiness over the Phils getting smacked around by the Nationals Sunday. If Brown’s locomotive trip to the plate wasn’t a statement, it sure seemed that way.

“I don’t know, just a heat of the moment kind of thing there, I guess,” Brown said. “It felt good to be back out there playing hard again.

“I’m out there trying to compete no matter if we’re up 10 runs or down 10 runs. I’m giving it all I have.”

“We want to finish strong,” Lee said. “We’re basically out of contention to make the playoffs but we still got another couple weeks to play and we got to finish strong and play hard. (Brown’s run) was an example of just that. That was a big moment in the game right there.”

The team’s training staff seemed impressed with the former Miami football recruit’s north-south running.

“Someone said, ‘I thought you were being recruited as a receiver,’” Brown said. “I said, ‘Hey, you’ve got to block too.’ It was definitely a good win for us.”

Brown also liked what he saw from Lee, both on the mound and at the plate. In the fifth, Lee got the barrel on the ball in a big way, hitting a 380-foot smash to center into the wind for the stand-up triple. He punctuated his plate performance by following a Roger Bernadina triple in the seventh with a clean single to center.

“Cliff Lee, he set the tone today,” Brown said. “He’s quick, works fast, you’re on your toes on defense, and it helps tremendously defensively. All you have to worry about is your hitting. He makes it easy for us.

“He hit (the triple) good. He might have a little more pop than myself. ”

The Phillies’ pitchers hold a competition for who is the best hitting pitcher, and for most of the season Cole Hamels has been leading the way. But Lee just made a huge push with one big game.

“He was hustling around the bases like he always does,” Sandberg said. “He got the ball as a souvenir.

“He couldn’t be more happy about his hitting. We just wanted him to go out and concentrate on his pitching.”

“I was trailing Cole pretty good,” Lee said, “but I think that game put me over the top a little bit. We’ve still got a couple more games to go and hopefully I can get another hit or two.”